I just came home from a wonderful trip from Albuquerque to Yellowstone National Park. My
Burro 13 foot weighs less than 900 pounds. I was concerned about pulling it up over two mountain ranges without trailer
brakes so I did a lot of research and discovered that as long as the loaded
weight with all gear does not exceed about 1200 pounds,
brakes are not needed.
My trailer followed and tracked perfectly and I never got up over 65MPH for safety. I took it slow down hills and steep grades and used my gears to slow down instead of the
brakes when possible. My Forester pulled the trailer up the steepest grades with very little effort. I was very impressed. I averaged about about 21 MPG for the entire trip. I don't think I'll face steeper grades or more acute curves than I just faced and the Subaru handled it perfectly.
I still may put brakes on this unit because I think it's worth the cost and effort given that in an emergency braking situation it would be critical. I ran out of time before my trip to get this done. I did pull the wheels and my 1983 13 foot
Burro does have the axel with the mounting plate with the four places to bolt on the new hubs and brakes.
For those of you wondering if it is possible to pull a 13 foot
fiberglass RV with a 4 cylinder SUV, I am here to tell you...........YES YOU CAN! Subaru rates the Forester to pull 2000 pounds. I am well at HALF of that. The key is not to load the trailer with extra cargo
weight. Less is more.
If any of you have any suggestions regarding good brake controllers I'm all ears. I am shopping for a good model now.